Sprayed insulation is commonly used in the construction industry for insulating the open cavities of building walls, floors, ceilings, attics and other areas. Insulation materials, such as loose fiberglass, rock wool, mineral wool, fibrous plastic, cellulose, ceramic fiber, etc. that is combined with an adhesive or water, are sprayed into such open cavities to reduce the rate of heat loss or gain there-though. The adhesive properties of the insulation mixture, comprising the insulation combined with adhesive or water, allow it to adhere to vertical or overhanging surfaces, thus allowing for an application of insulation prior to the installation of wallboard and similar cavity enclosing materials.
Various systems have been devised for the application of spayed insulation and adhesive mixtures into open cavities. Such systems typically utilize a loose insulation blower that draws loose insulation out of a hopper and pneumatically conveys it through a hose and out of the end of an applicator nozzle. The adhesive that is mixed with the insulation is preferably a liquid adhesive that is sprayed as a mist onto the airborne insulation as it leaves the outlet end of the applicator nozzle. The water may also be sprayed onto the airborne insulation when the insulation includes a dry adhesive material, with the water thereafter activating the adhesive properties of the material. The liquid adhesive or water is typically pumped with a liquid pump from a reservoir, through a hose, and out through one or more spray tips located proximal to the end of the applicator nozzle. In cold climates, the liquid adhesive or water is heated within the reservoir to a desired working temperature with one or more electric heaters that receive energy from either the 110 V electrical outlet or an electrical generator.
In applying sprayed insulation to open cavities, installers typically manually hold the outlet end of the applicator nozzle towards the open cavity. The installer then sprays the insulation and adhesive mixture into the cavity until the cavity is filled. To ensure that the cavity is completely filled, an installer typically sprays an excess amount of mixture into the cavity such that an excess quantity of sprayed insulation has accumulated beyond an opening of the cavity defined by the cavity's confining boundaries, i.e. beyond the opening of a wall cavity defined by wall studs. The excess quantity of insulation is then removed or “scrubbed off,” utilizing a rotary scrubber, to define a boundary of the sprayed insulation lying substantially planar at the cavity's opening. The scrubber preferably comprises a rotary, cylindrical brush or textured wheel preferably driven by an electric motor that receives energy from either a standard 110 V electrical outlet or an electrical generator. The cylindrical brush or wheel spans the width of the wall cavity and rotates to remove the excess insulation material there-from.
A separate vacuum system is typically utilized to gather the excess insulation that is scrubbed-off or removed from the cavity's opening. In utilizing such a vacuum system, excess or scrubbed-off insulation is gathered or swept into a localized area. The gathered excess insulation is then drawn into the end of a vacuum nozzle typically held by an installer. A negative pressure vacuum fan then draws the excess material into the vacuum inlet and through a vacuum hose, and thereafter deposits the material into a bin or other container. A lift may optionally be utilized to elevate the applicator's nozzle, scrubber and vacuum inlet when applying sprayed insulation in elevated areas. The lift may be electrically powered, utilizing a driven cable assembly, one or more machine gears or pneumatic or hydraulic actuators to ascend and descend the lift.
Each of the foregoing components of the sprayed insulation application system, namely, the insulation blower, liquid pump, vacuum fan and electrical generator for providing electrical energy to the heater, scrubber, electrically powered lift and/or other electrical devices, are driven mechanisms that receive rotational energy from a power source. Thus, many sprayed insulation application systems present in the art utilize one or more gasoline engines to provide the requisite rotational energy to these components. For example, one gasoline engine may power the insulation blower while separate gasoline engines respectively power the vacuum fan and the electrical generator.
Several disadvantages, however, are associated with the use of use of gasoline engines to power the various components of a sprayed insulation application system. Because many of the components of such systems are portable to facilitate moving the equipment between insulation application job sites, gasoline must either be provided at a given job site or hauled to and from the job site to fuel the engines, resulting in added construction costs. Also, because each gasoline engine produces exhaust fumes, the location of a given engine-powered component at a job site may create a safety hazard if the component is located in an enclosed work space where ventilation is limited.
For example, because the application of a sprayed insulation system typically occurs within an enclosed building, the location of a gasoline engine-powered component (i.e. an electrical generator) within the building may create a safety hazard for construction workers located therein due to the accumulation of exhaust fumes. Furthermore, because the multiple components of a given sprayed insulation application system are often located within the interior of a panel truck box or within the interior of a trailer to facilitate the system's portability, the use of gasoline engines within the confined space of the box or trailer is undesirable as well due to the accumulation of the resultant exhaust fumes.
In an effort to minimize the use of individual gasoline engines to power the various components of a sprayed insulation application system, many application systems present in the art utilize a sole power source and power-take-off to provide the rotational energy to one or more of the system's components. The power-take-off (“PTO”), well known in the art, generally comprises a series of gear, shafts, belts and clutches that draws power preferably from a vehicle's transmission to provide rotational energy to other components. Thus, for the various components of a sprayed insulation application system located in the box of a given truck, the truck's PTO may provide rotational energy to one or more of the system's components, thus utilizing the truck's engine as the sole power source and minimizing the use of individual gasoline engines to drive the components.
Several disadvantages, however, are associated with using a truck's PTO to power the various components of a sprayed insulation application system. A PTO is typically located proximal to a vehicle's transmission, with the PTO's output shaft typically about centrally located below the truck's bed. To allow the output shaft of the PTO to drive the various components of a sprayed insulation application system, their location must be proximal to that of the output shaft, thus limiting the variability of the location of each component.
For example, because the output shaft of a truck's PTO is typically about centrally located below the bed of the truck's storage box, any component receiving rotational energy there-from must also be located about centrally on the bed within the truck's box to ensure its proximity with the shaft. However, the central location of one or more components (i.e. the electrical generator, liquid pump and/or vacuum fan) about the main drive shaft of a truck may not be desirable where such components are preferably located remotely of the box of the truck during the insulation application process (i.e. within the building enclosure receiving the insulation), or where their central location within a truck's box is either impractical or inconvenient.
Thus, what is needed is a sprayed insulation application system that minimizes the use of multiple gasoline engines to drive the various components of the system. The system should allow its components to receive rotational energy from the sole power source (i.e. engine) of a vehicle without requiring the components to be located proximal to the PTO and/or the vehicle's main drive shaft. The present invention fulfills these needs.